Tester Times Two and Vegan Brunch Muffins!!

I have been a busy little tester these days! With testing for two cookbooks simultaneously, I have had lots of cooking to do...and I'm loving every minute of it! Here's some recent test recipes:
From Cookin' Crunk testing, which comes from the lovely Bianca of the Vegan Crunk blog: Seitan Hot Wings. Spicy and tangy, just how they are meant to be! Chunks of seitan are battered, baked, and tossed in a buffalo wing sauce. One of my favorite Crunk test recipes so far!! I served the Seitan Hot Wings on homemade Cornbread Buns (thanks to Melisser for the awesome recipe!) for open-faced sandwiches! These were brilliant! Hot wings, my homemade vegan ranch dressing, spinach, and toasted cornbread buns...perfect summery sandwich!

On the side, I sauteed local mustard greens, garlic, and my momma's tomatoes. Fresh and delish.
The next pic comes from Terry Hope Romero's Vegan Latina tester forum: Seitan Chorizo Tacos! While not a test recipe itself, the Seitan Chorizo is a test recipe, as well as the homemade Soft Corn Tortillas. Both are totally drool-worthy on their own.... but paired with baked butternut squash, red onion, green olives, pickled jalapenos, chopped chipotles in adobo sauce, and crispy red leaf lettuce...I think I don't even have to tell you how good these were! Tons of texture and flavor variations make these tacos perfect. When you get Vegan Latina after it comes out, I highly recommend using the Seitan Chorizo just like this!

And lastly, a non-test recipe: Cocoa Raspberry Muffins from Isa's Vegan Brunch! I am trying to work in as much VB I can with all the cookbook testing recipes, but it can get tough sometimes. I am so glad I could squeeze these in my schedule!! Just a little sweet with a little tartness from the raspberries make nice little muffins that are perfect for breakfast or a mid-day snack. With a nice hot cup of tea, of course!

Everything's Better When It's Homemade!

There is just something so gratifying about making things yourself! Not only because they usually taste better and are healthier than when store-bought, but when you are biting into your homemade creation, there is a great sense of accomplishment and pride in your hard work. I love this feeling, so this week I tried really hard to make as much as I could from scratch! It was a lot of fun...and tasty, too!

For breakfast, I have been munching on the Bakery-Style Berry Muffins from Isa's Vegan Brunch. These are perfectly sweet and fluffy and satisfying in the morning with a little schmear of Earth Balance and berry jam. This makes me want to try all the VB muffin recipes now! No good vegan could go around tauting homemade goods without mentioning seitan! I love seitan made from scratch! It has such a wonderful flavor and is so easy. Most of my dinners this week have been centered around the Steamed White Seitan, a tester recipe for Terry's upcoming Vegan Latina cookbook. This seitan is supposed to be for chicken- and pork-type dishes, as it has a mild flavor and is spiked with delicious herbs and seasonings.For the first meal in which I used the Steamed White Seitan, I made the Arroz con Seitan, another VL test recipe. This is Terry's veganized take on Arroz con Pollo, a very traditional Latina dish with chicken, rice, and veggies. It was delicious!! First the seitan is marinated and grilled...Then combined with the rice, a delicious broth made with beer, and lots of veggies--including green olives, which I adore!! Very flavorful, hearty, and even nice on a hot summer evening with a side of juicy local tomato slices!Then last night for dinner, I used the seitan for Chipotle Seitan and Potato Tacos, a VL test recipe as well. I love love love tacos, and these were amazing! I prepared these for my friend Sarah and myself, and we devoured every last bite. Perfect on a hot night, with all the heat from the chipotle peppers to make you sweat!

I even made my own Soft Corn Tortillas for our tacos! This was my first time making homemade tortillas, and it was surprisingly easy! These were a Vegan Latina test recipe, of course! I think I will be making these all the time now!
These spicy, savory soft tacos are filled with a chipotle and beer marinated seitan that has been grilled, roasted then pan-fried sweet potatoes, shredded cabbage, the Pickled Red Onions (a VL test recipe I had leftover), and a Lime Yogurt Crema, which is Terry's spin on a sour cream-style sauce....lots of lime and cilantro and yum! I cannot stress enough how awesome these were and how excited everyone should be about the VL cookbook! woo!

And, of course, there's nothing like a homemade pie for dessert! My wonderful friend Cody had a birthday this week, and he requested a peanut butter pie instead of the traditional b-day cake. So I delivered! Celine at the Have Cake, Will Travel blog posed this PB & J Pie recipe not too long ago, and it caught my eye (and taste buds!). I made a homemade whole wheat pie crust and filled it with layers of peanut butter-based filling and raspberry jam. This was awesome! Peanut butter is good just about any way you throw it at me, but this was exceptional! It was even more perfect with some freshly-brewed coffee and lovely company!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Yay! It's a holiday! I think it's my nature to celebrate with food :) Since it IS Cinco de Mayo today and I AM testing for the Vegan Latina cookbook, by the terrific Terry, I of course HAD to combine those two awesome things for dinner tonight!

For the main dish: Refried Bean Tacos! I was happy to get to use up my plethora of Tofutti Sour Supreme and enjoy this holiday meal. This was so wonderful!!! The taco shells are locally-made, and super crispy....the beans were Homestyle Refried Beans, a tester for Vegan Latina, and they were so creamy and flavorful...and the salsa is locally-made, by the small, local Deja Vivir company! I bought it at the Farmer's Market this past weekend. It is seeeeriously delicious salsa. Very homemade tasting! Taco-rific!And a side note from dinner last night, another tester for Terry's upcoming Latina cookbook: Swiss Chard with Capers and Raisins. This sweet and savory veggie dish has the perfect balance of flavors...if you like the whole sweet/salty combo, and who doesn't?! This dish is for chard-lovers only. Luckily, I am one!

Too bad I don't drink...a margarita would have rounded out this meal perfectly!

Trip to the 'Lou and more...

Whoa! It has been way too long since I posted last...but the past week or so has been crazy busy...you understand!

A few highlights from goodies I have made over the past week.....

Another taco night...this time I made spicy roasted veggies (corn, red peppers, zucchini, shallots, with cumin, cayenne, and coriander) to go with the tacos...and of course, lots of avocado!! Did I mention how goooooood Tofutti Sour Supreme is?

A few nights ago I made what I call the perfect meal....

A bed of quinoa topped with tofu (i saute mine with bragg's and nooch), steamed sweet potatoes, and steamed greens (that night I had chard)... drizzled with miso tahini sauce and garnished with sprouts. I swear this meal is perfect(be not fooled by the crappy photography...I am yet a novice) It cannot be beat!!

One morning this week for breakfast, I made the Blue Corn Pancakes from the Chicago Diner Cookbook (available on their website http://www.veggiediner.com/! Get if for reeeeealll) with some scrambled tofu and wedges of pink grapefruit. I love waking up for good food!

I also made one of my faaaaavorite meals ever (Steve's, too!): BBQ Seitan sandwiches...shown here on some baguette bread from our local bakery, Uprise Bakery. the bomb, ya'll. Being from KC, I have an inborn affinity for all things barbeque, and this is no different! I made some baked oven fries to go with the sandwich. We were covered in BBQ sauce after we were done, but I am not complaining!! When I perfect this recipe, I will post it :)

When I baked for our Lost watching party last week...if you don't watch Lost, you should. It's the only TV show worth rotting your brain for!...I made The PB banana cookie sandwiches created by Bjorkedoff, that freakin' genius! It's the gigantoid PB oatmeal cookies from Vegan with a Vengeance, filled the PB caramel from Veganomicon and slices of bananas. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. I am not sure if I will ever be the same. Bjorkedoff, God bless you!

I also bottled up my Kombucha this week! I let it brew for two months instead of one, cuz I like my Kombucha nice and tangy!

Here is the "mother" for this huuuuuuge batch....I got 14 bottles out of it! My body won't know what to do with all these enzymes and such! Yes, it looks absolutely repulsive, but it's soooo yum!

Over the weekend, Steve and I took a day trip to St. Louis. Being from Kansas City, I have not spent much time in the 'Lou, but it was awesome!

We found this mostly veg restaurant called the Shangri La Diner and it was great! Super diner-style, greasy, messy, homestyle cooking...lots of food for cheap, too! We were both impressed! If you are ever in St. Louis, PLEASE check this place out! You can even look at their place online....www.theshangriladiner.com.The owner/chef was so nice, and so were the servers...they even have a sunday brunch with tons of vegan stuff! so cool.

I don't eat a lot of greasy food very often, so my tummy wasn't as happy as my taste buds, but it's all good! Worth it!

Steve had the St. Louis Style "Slinger:" Hashbrowns topped with scrambled tofu, vegan chili, guacamole instead of cheese, and toast. Enormous and so great!

And of course, he got the vegan chocolate malt...sinful.

I had the vegan burger with vegan bbq baked beans and corn on the cob. The burger was frighteningly meat-like, but really tasty. I am not above things that taste like meat, as long as they taste good...but, I probably wouldn't want to eat it everyday. They even had curry ketchup that they made in-house to put on the burger! It was really tasty...

And for dessert, because I always must, I had the vegan espresso pound cake with a lemon glaze and a chocolate ganache. The flavors went together perfectly and it was SO MOIST! yikes!

Overall, a great trip and a great week. I hope to be cooking more this week, but it looks busy... but there will be baking for sure!

Taco Swell

Last night, Steve and I had the first of what I hope will be many taco nights!!

We started off with crispy blue corn tortilla shells.... then filled

them with Mexican-spiced tempeh with cilantro and lime....

Then, for the veggies, we had a fuuuuullll spread! We had avocado

that Steve had gotten in Mexico on a rock climbing trip (soooo creamy soooo good!), red onion, tomato, shredded cabbage, and a squeeeeeeeze of fresh lime juice--the limes were also from Mexico! My boyfriend went to Mexico and all he brought me back were these amazing avocados and limes...hmmmm...... :)

And, of course, to top it all off we had some spicy salsa verde and Tofutti Sour Supreme! That stuff is dangerous it is so delicious!!

We had some "Spanish" quinoa for our side dish, loaded with tomatoes, garlic, and spices (cayenne, cumin, coriander, chili powder, paprika, cilantro...). I have a mild obsession with quinoa. no big deal.

I think this taco night thing will have to become a new tradition...

Muy bueno!!! :)